All Alternative Energy Articles & Interviews

Research has shown that LEED buildings consume over 25% less energy, have 13% lower maintenance costs, 27% higher occupant satisfaction and a 33% reduction in GHG emissions compared to the average commercial building.

Solar Power International 2011 took place in Dallas, Texas, with a goal to generate powerful new ideas, connections and business opportunities for the solar industry. An estimated 24,000 professionals and over 1200 exhibitors from businesses spanning the entire spectrum of the industry will be on hand for four days of product exploration, discussion, professional enrichment and networking.
The AltEnergyMag team has taken some time to put together a list of some of the interesting new products and services seen at this year's show.

Many of the cutting edge thin-film technologies require rare elements that are a finite resource already in short supply. There simply is not enough material on the planet to make these devices for worldwide consumption.

Under the terms of a solar PPA, a solar services provider installs solar equipment at a host business, government site, university, or other organization, and the host agrees to buy the solar electricity generated by the system for a fixed price and term, usually 5-20 years.

I wrote this article for HomeToys.com, our Home Technology website but it applies to Alternative Energy as well. It's not enough to monitor our energy use. We don't really care about that unless it does something to change our lives or save us money. So, let's put a solar system on the roof. Now that can do both of these things and should attract our attention. But let's take it a step further. With that solar system there is a new variable in the mix --- FREE CLEAN ENERGY. What can and should we do with it.

The Denver recently reported the NREL was going to lay off 10 percent of its employees. It took about two light seconds for a popular Washington D.C. news site to pronounce the layoff a "scandal," because NREL had taken federal stimulus money.
That is silly.
NREL, of course, is where the Department of Energy tests and develops new materials and techniques for solar, wind and other kinds of energy.

OPDE is a Spanish corporation with a global vision that specialises in photovoltaic solar energy systems. We have three business lines. OPDE develops, builds, and carries out maintenance of photovoltaic solar plants; PROINSO supplies modules, inverters, trackers, and other equipments for photovoltaic installations; MECASOLAR specialises in the design and manufacture of solar trackers, fixed structures, and foundation screws.

In 2009, there were 2.2 million green jobs in America, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By July of this year, the number was 2.7 million, according to the Brookings Institution. That compares with 375,000 jobs mining coal, producing oil and gas and turning fossil fuels into consumer products.

Lithium-ion technology is currently more economically and environmentally viable than other existing battery technologies. It will likely be both the present and the future of sustainable storage of renewable energy and mobile power solutions.

The idea of using hydrogen fuel cells instead of lead- acid batteries in the material handling equipment was introduced because of significant benefits offered by the alternative energy power source—increased sustainability, less maintenance requirements and operator self-sufficiency.

In 2010, global CSP investments primarily came from Spain and the US. Of total investments in 2010, 59.2% were made in Spain and 28.8% in the US. Spain also recorded the highest number of installations in 2010. Annual CSP capacity additions reached 350MW in 2010 due to the introduction of the FIT scheme.